Birds of a feather learn together

When first-graders at Brunson Elementary were learning about birds, 17 Wake Forest students visited their classrooms to connect the biology lessons with the arts by exploring how birds move and leading bird-themed creative projects.

“The students used poetry, dance, visual art and music to help anchor the lessons,” said Christina Soriano, associate provost of the arts and associate professor of dance who co-taught the class Integrating Arts and Movement into the Elementary Curriculum with associate professor of education Alan Brown.

“They always asked when our ‘Wake friends’ were coming to visit,” said Lauren Hicks, one of four first-grade teachers who collaborated with the students.

The students had originally scheduled five visits to Brunson, but could only come twice before the coronavirus pandemic changed everyone’s plans.

We had to reimagine our plans due to remote teaching, but we have been excited to find new ways for Brunson and Wake Forest students to engage from afar,” said Brown. It took about a week of figuring it out and a couple of Zoom class meetings to decide how to keep the collaboration going.

The entire story about Wake Forest’s collaboration with Brunson Elementary is available here.